\Com*mu"ni*ty\, n.; pl. {Communities}. [L. communitas:
cf. OF. communit['e]. Cf. {Commonalty}, and see {Common}.]
1. Common possession or enjoyment; participation; as, a
community of goods.
The original community of all things. --Locke.
An unreserved community of thought and feeling. --W.
Irving.
2. A body of people having common rights, privileges, or
interests, or living in the same place under the same laws
and regulations; as, a community of monks. Hence a number
of animals living in a common home or with some apparent
association of interests.
Creatures that in communities exist. --Wordsworth.
3. Society at large; a commonwealth or state; a body politic;
the public, or people in general.
Burdens upon the poorer classes of the community.
--Hallam.
Note: In this sense, the term should be used with the
definite article; as, the interests of the community.
4. Common character; likeness. [R.]
The essential community of nature between organic
growth and inorganic growth. --H. Spencer.
5. Commonness; frequency. [Obs.]
Eyes . . . sick and blunted with community. --Shak.

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Biology Dictionary

Definition:

An association of living organisms having mutual relationships among themselves and to their environment and thus functioning, at least to some degree, as an ecological unit.

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Glossary

Definition:

among chimpanzees, a large group of chimpanzees that, through fission and fusion, is composed of a series of constantly changing smaller units, including the all-male party, family unit, nursery unit, consortship, and gathering.